My dad’s death totally changed my life –Bez

                                    Bez

Why do you always wear hats?

Sometimes, I don’t bother cutting my hair and I use the hat as a cover up. Most times if I am not wearing a hat, I would be wearing a fez cap because of my style. Since I have been doing it for a long, it has become a habit. I adopted the style because of the neo-soul look I am trying to pull off. I just wanted to look different.

What challenges did you face singing soul and R ‘n’ B music?

I found out that a lot of people liked the style of music but it was not commercially viable. That was challenging for me. Building the process was the most interesting thing for me. But I viewed the challenges as part of the road to success. Whatever you want to do, there is that incubation period. You have to work hard to reach your goals even though they may take a while.

There must have been times when you thought of quitting, especially when things were difficult.

The truth is I have not got to that point before. I cannot do another type of music. I cannot go into mainstream commercial music because it is not my style. I have not thought of going into mainstream commercial music just the same way I have not thought of taking up a white collar job. I had a job with an IT firm in my final year in the university but after six months, I knew I was not going to do any white collar job. I realised that I was not cut out for that. There were moments I felt things were hard and I wished I could have enough money. At times, I would be invited to events and be totally neglected. They would not even provide a microphone stand or mixer to plug in my guitar. It was so awkward then but as I said, I took those things as mere challenges. I never thought of calling it quits.

So you are not into music to make money?

Money is not my sole purpose of doing music. I am doing it because I know it is my purpose in life. I went to Covenant University and they drummed it into our ears everyday we would need to find our purpose on earth. Eventually, I discovered that my purpose was to do music because it is something I can do just to be happy and I am really enjoying what I’m doing. My purpose is to do music but it does not stop there; it is to add value.

You say you cannot do a white collar job. Does that mean you would not use your certificate to work?

It is about me knowing what I want to do. If I go and apply for a job, it is just a process that I cannot even handle. I cannot sit down in an office because I will feel I am wasting away. I know I have a talent that people love and I would like to share rather than sit and do nothing about it. I probably would still go into Information Technology. You can have multiple sources of income. I would definitely go into other businesses; it doesn’t have to be music alone.

How did music start for you?

I grew up in a musical family with a younger brother and two sisters. My father taught me how to play the guitar. My father and mother would sit by a tape recorder and record themselves singing. My father would be playing the guitar and my mother would be singing as a back-up. It was interesting listening to my parents’ voices from the tape and watching my father play his guitar. There was always that innate love for music in me. My dad taught me how to play when I was about 10 years old and he died when I was 14 years old. That changed my life totally because as the first boy, I had to be responsible, I had to grow fast. My dad was the breadwinner and my mother was a caterer and when he died, things were really tough. Then I was at Loyola Jesuit College which was an expensive school. But as luck would have it, somebody came and paid my fees from JSS 2 till the end of my secondary school. To me, that was amazing and a great miracle. Even when I got into Covenant University, I applied by faith. Throughout my stay in the university, I never defaulted in paying by the grace of God. Sometimes, parents of my friends would pick up the bill. It was like that for me throughout and that is the reason I want to give back to people. To whom much is given, much is expected. I can only use what I am here to do on earth to add value and that is what my music is doing.

Your father died before you became famous in the Nigerian entertainment scene. How do you feel about that?

I think everything happens for a reason, I never have any regrets. I leave things as they are; I would not want to change anything because there is a master plan by God. Sometimes I wish he would see what I have become now. I think that if he was alive, he probably would not have let me choose music as a career. Sometimes I can’t help but wish he was here to see the progress and how far the little seed that he sowed has grown.

Do you think he would have been proud of you?

Of course, yes he would have. Even when we used to perform in church, people would tell him that I played the guitar better than him and he would brag that he taught me all I knew. He was proud of me even before he died.

One of your songs is titled, ‘That Stupid Song’ and it became a hit. How did you get inspired for such a song?

We were in the studio and somebody came and said he wanted to do a stupid song. What happened from there was just really funny because Cohbams started thinking of another angle to the song. He suggested this angle to the person but he refused, so Cohbams told me that we should go into the studio and see what we could do since the person rejected his opinion. We started brainstorming and we came up with the song. It was a joint effort and it was really amazing because we finished the song in two days.

Did you expect it to be a hit song?

Actually no, I did not. I did not know it would be that big.

How is married life?

It is very interesting and much saner for me. There are times when I may leave things scattered around the house and when I come back, they would have been arranged. It is very interesting. It is way better than being a bachelor because there is somebody to take care of you.

How did you meet your wife?

We had a lot of mutual friends. On our wedding day, it was the same set of people that came out to take pictures with us when they asked for the friends of the bride and groom.

How did you transit from being friends to being lovers?

We became friends and eventually it transformed into a relationship. When you spend a lot of time with somebody, you find out that you really like the person. You begin to think of taking it up a notch from being just friends to lovers since you like the person’s attributes. I did not plan that we would move from being friends to lovers; it just happened because of some attributes I admired in her.

What were those attributes?

You can never ignore somebody who you are compatible with when it comes to making conversations. There is always something to talk about. You enjoy the person’s company; she always cares and is very honest. You can never ignore that. You don’t have to pretend because the person does not pretend. All those attributes were things I could not ignore.

How did your female admirers take the news of your marriage?

I don’t know how they took the news because I don’t have random friends. Although sometimes on twitter, I see a message like, ‘ah! Bez is married, heartbroken.’ I think all of that is face value because you don’t even know who Bez is. You just love his music but you think you love him which is something that is very complicated.

What are you currently working on?

I recently released a song called My Baby and it is getting a lot of airplay. I have not released a video on it yet but it is in the works already. Listening to the lyrics, you can easily know that I sang it for my baby. I got the inspiration from my wife. I released it before the wedding and it was a special gift from me to her and I really like the song.  I am working on my second album and it would be out soon.